Planting Victoria Block
May 2001 Victoria Day the first vines on our farm were planted on what was to become know as the Victoria Block. Located just east of the barn that would become the winery and just north of the wonderful old house that we call home, the field, long planted to alfalfa, seemed perfect. A long field allowing for row lengths of just about a km (250 vines per row at 4ft spacing) meant efficiency and economy for the planting while the width of the field allowed for 9 foot row spacing which would give us lots of earth for hilling up with a gentle southern slope. The hedgerows were clear and the stream runs by the southern end of the field allowing for air drainage during cold episodes. Shallow intensely gravelly slightly alkaline soils (depths in this block range from about 15 to 24 inches) with highly fractured calcarous limestone seemed to indicate enough challenge to the vines to naturally limit crop loads while providing excellent drainage and heat retention. I decided to plant chardonnay and gamay in this block and after much deliberation chose clone 76 for the chardonnay and clone for the gamay.
The day before planting day was crazy with preparation as we dragged kiddie pools out to strategic shady locations along the north end of the field, then dragged the water to fill them and finally when the warmth of the day was spent carried the vines themselves out to spend the night soaking up the water in the pools and beginning the acclimatization process.
The next day proved the first example of a lesson I would have to learn over and over. I had planned a party … champagne, friends family, food all to celebrate the beginning of something wonderful. With the champagne chilling and food prepared all that was left was for the planter to arrive. Abe Weins and his wonderful machine that would take the slender twigs capped in red wax and plant them in straight rows using GPS was to have arrived early that day farming indifferent to man made holidays and begin. By noon he still wasn’t there but our guests were, rain was threatening and I could feel the sharp edges of panic poking at me. I drove up the road to the corner of Benway and Closson where Abe was planting the day before and sure enough he was still there. Things are a little behind he said, trouble changing the equipment over to the narrower rows he said, grounds pretty wet slow going he said and then looking up at the sky and the threat of rain he said if we get anymore I’m going to have to quit until it dries out some. I can’t begin to describe my feelings at that moment but I can say it was only the first of many times in my last ten years in the vineyard that I felt a sense of frustration to incredibly powerful I could taste the bitterness on my tongue. I tried again: if the rain didn’t come and if the planting went smoothly from here on in when did he think he would be arriving for set up … he said maybe just maybe mind toward the end of the day. I went home to entertain our guests with a tour of the soon to be vineyard and copious quantities of alcohol all the while praying please don’t rain. Abe did show up that day long after the last guest had gone and planted the first row of chardonnay as the sun fell low on the horizon. It was hard planting; the soil was wet and so incredibly gravelly the chucks of dirt at times would bury the tiny vines. I knew there would be weeks of work ahead to find and properly seat each vine to ensure they would thrive but still it was thrilling to see it all begin after almost 2 years of planning and dreaming. The next day was smoother and the next smoother still no party just the moan of the tractor and the occasional bang as the planter hit yet another rock ledge in the vineyard and then it was planted and Abe was gone off to another farm to begin the whole process again. I must have prayed pretty hard that Victoria Day though because it did not rain again in the County until the end of August turning out to be one of the worst drought years the County has seen. I worked for weeks setting each vine in place, the old universal tractor broke, the weeds started growing long before the vines did and the rest of the summer is a blur memories of trading my children beach time for weeding time, early morning spraying with the backpack sprayer, trailing behind a water tank when the tractor finally did come back trying to water the struggling young plants. A whole new life began for me and my young family that summer. We called the delicate process of seating the vines stomping and due to the very vigorous nature of that particular activity I quit going to the gym too tired some days to do much more than make supper and fall asleep in my jeans only to wake up with rocks stuck to my face. Dad used to go out to the vineyard and find a weedy spot and just sit and dig them out. By September all the young plants lost their leaves and we began to try and hill them up a process which took us 3 full months to master due in no small part to the wetness of the fall; all I wanted for Christmas that year was the vines hilled up. I think we finished Christmas eve. At the end I was humbler, I was wiser and I was much fitter. Somehow despite everything I think I fell in love that summer!
New Year New Decade
The winery is quiet these days even the cellar all the wine tucked away to setle or age. I have been thinking alot about our plans for the coming years pausing for a moment to see if the path we are on is the one we meant to travel. So much has changed in the last ten years it is hard sometimes to even remember life before the vineyards …….. I know my children really don’t.
This is a sad new year. It is with regret I write that Gerald Heath died suddenly around 5pm on December 30, 2009 on his way to Wellington. Gerry was one of the first men to work in our fields with us and I have never met a more determined worker. But Gerry was so much more than that, he was unfailingly kind and thoughtful,more than once he came to my rescue. So it is with great sadness that I mark his passing from our lives. Soon he will travel back on last time to Newfoundland but I will not forget his contribution or his smile.
The old year has passed and the new must be embraced. The hills are high and the winter suprisingly mild so far. Just three short months must pass before we once again head out to the vineyards to wrestle with mother nature for another vintage
All I want for Christmas: By Caroline
The vineyards have seen their first snow but I suspect it won’t last. It has been a number of years since I last said this but all I want for Christmas is the vines hilled up. We were four days from finishing when the rains came and washed away at least a week of work. Mike and Adam were back on the fields Friday as soon ass the frost had settled deeply enough into the soil to allow the tractors back on the fields…. Hilling in the frost can be extremely effective especially in years when we struggle with too much rain on the clay …. With the frost the earth actually shatters as the hills roll up and away from the big plow blades creating more even well distributed hills.. Brian was running all day Saturday and Monday but there are still 4 or 5 more days of work and the weather is warming up again!
In the cellar things are getting quiet after the flurry of activity for the last couple of months. The 2008 Pinot Noir came out of barrel last week to prepare for bottling and the 2009 went down. I guess the only left in the old dairy parlour from the 2008 vintage now is the cabernet franc. We are still very excited about the pinot noir harvest this year the wines are showing real promise but of course now the wait begins. Adam has promised to write some early notes from the 09 vintage over the weekend so I should post them sometime next week.
In the tasting room the 2007 Brut continues to be everyone’s favorite but that probably has a lot to do with the season. Bubbles and holidays just go together I guess. The wine was featured on Spotlight Toronto last week nice review.
I saw that the fresh cranberries are in the stores now and started thinking about making Gamay jelly with fresh cranberries for Christmas dinner this year. The 2008 Gamay has been out for a few weeks now the first of the wines to get the new label……. I think its turning out to be another amazing little wine but then I have a soft spot for Gamay.
I leave for Regina tomorrow night for a couple of days of meetings for FCC. I am hoping it will not be 30 below but I suspect it will…… I am bringing my heavy coat and hat ……
Adam’s final thoughts on Harvest 2009
It is finally over, all the fruit is in. I think the guys wanted to home to warmer climates pretty badly because some days they were picking almost 10 tonnes!
All the pinot noir is pressed. I think it may rival ’07….. deep colour, concentrated flavours and aromas, a good year for pinot.
Another gem is turning out to be the unoaked chard, it has been fermenting under 15° C. for weeks now a nice slow fermentation resulting in a lot of finesse with very pronounced flavours…. Apple, pear and other orchard fruit
The 2009 sparkling base is showing very well. It is extremely clean. With two vintages of sparkling wine under our belt I think it is now safe to judge the quality of the base wine and again it may rival the ’07 which by the way is at long last available for purchase as of this week!
The rest of harvest….
After that first week things began to blur together between the long days and even longer nights with the inversion fans running to ward off the frost for a little longer. Sleep fast became a luxury and the crew became edgier. We moved into pinot noir next and picked the Diana Block first bringing the fruit into the winery in the totes it was picked in. The process was ardous this year as the fields were still muddy and we needed to keep the mud away from the fruit so the boxes had to moved in a single layer instead of stacked. Brian and Justin made tripp after trip carrying the bins in from behind the barn. They were moved into the processing room where a team of 4 waited to separate the great from the merely good…….. the interesting thing we found this year was the ratio of perfect fruit was actually higher than in previous vintages. We have been running at about 30% perfect but this year it was closer to 50%. Good news for Grange Diana Block Pinot Noir and actually the pick was finished up in only 3 days this year. After that it was on to Riesling in the hopes of buying a few more days of sunshine for our Gamay Noir; the fans were still running at night and we were starting to get some nice warm sunny days. We were amazed the little 3 acre block of Riesling in Gracefield actually yielded 13 tonnes (it has never given us more than 3 to date). Finally it was time to pick the Gamay the fruit had benefitted from the additional hang time and I think everyone agreed it was worth the wait but we were all glad to get it off. Cabernet Franc was the last to be picked ever the pleasant surprise the fruit hangs beautifully, ripens predictably and tastes truly delicious with beautiful red fruit. I wish I could plant more ……..
